Student Leaders Get Hands-on Training

A new student leadership program called Focus Leadership has been implemented at Cedarville University this year. Bob Lutz, associate dean for Student Leadership Development, was put in charge of developing this new program, with hopes that Focus will provide a more hands-on approach to leadership training than the previous program.

Focus Leadership has replaced the Leadership Institute as the primary campus leadership training. The new program was designed to be a more holistic approach to leadership, providing students with opportunities to explore the leadership skills they have learned in practical ways.

“Focus is simple and practical in that there are clear levels that you go through,” Lutz said. “There is an application component, from being in a Christian ministry or an MIS team, to exploring leadership through Getting Started or High School Leadership Conference.”

The program’s components ­are View and Develop. The View component is comprised of six different workshops that introduce students to campus leadership. The sessions include training on issues like delegation, leading meetings, having hard conversations and understanding diversity in leadership.

Carmille Akande, dean of Multicultural and Special Programs, leads the Diversity in Leadership sessions, which prepare students for a society that is becoming more and more global.

“I hope students will gain an awareness of diversity related issues through these sessions,” Akande said. “We want them to appreciate the importance of diversity, not only as a leader here at Cedarville, but also when they graduate and go into the work force.”

Some of the other faculty and staff leading sessions include Tom Hutchison, Jeff Reep, Milton Becknell, Carl Ruby, Drew Flamm and Brian Burns.

The Develop component was designed for students who have completed the View program and are looking to expand their leadership skills in specific ways.

“We want it to be a resource,” Lutz said. “Sometimes students find themselves in a position that is a lot bigger than they anticipated. They have no idea how to delegate to others, or lead meetings, and they don’t know where to go with that fear and frustration.

“If they know Focus is here,” he continued, “and they’ve used it before to get their feet wet, then hopefully when they find themselves in those bigger positions of leadership, they will be able to use it again.”

While the View component of Focus Leadership is now a required element for becoming a campus leader, Lutz was clear that the sessions were designed to be more than “just another class.”

“I’ve worked with our presenters and told them I don’t want them lecturing for 45 minutes,” Lutz said. “What I really want is about a 20-minute lecture, then Q&A and breakout sessions that let people discuss and work through what we’re talking about.”

Students who have already been through the sessions have responded positively about their experience.

“The sessions were actually really helpful and interesting,” said Rachel Bowers, a senior RA in Maddox. “I would recommend them for anyone, even if they aren’t required to go.”

The program is still being developed and modified. As Lutz and others get feedback from students, sessions are altered or removed in order to reduce redundancies in the program and improve the experience for everyone involved.

“We’re continuing to try and improve,” Lutz said. “But any time you change something on a college campus, particularly on a program level, it takes two or three years before it’s really understood and we know what’s working and what’s not. It’s somewhat of a daunting task.”

Lutz spent a lot of time looking at what other universities were doing in terms of leadership training to provide the best experience for Cedarville students.

“It’s a continual learning process,” he said. “I would also say that you try something and say ‘we need to tweak this,’ or ‘we need to change this.’ We’ve already changed one of the core sessions just because we don’t want there to be any redundancies. I don’t want a student to come into an hour session or workshop and it feel as if it was a waste of time or there wasn’t something new that they learned from it.”

Lutz has a degree in Higher Education and Student Development from Ohio State University and has a passion for helping students at each level of their college experience.

“We want to make sure that from the time that students come on campus as freshmen, to the time they leave as seniors, that they have been given opportunities and tools that have helped them develop as a leader on our campus, and we hope that that transfers to when they leave as well.”

A new student leadership program called Focus Leadership has been implemented at Cedarville University this year. Bob Lutz, associate dean for Student Leadership Development, was put in charge of developing this new program, with hopes that Focus will provide a more hands-on approach to leadership training than the previous program.

Focus Leadership has replaced the Leadership Institute as the primary campus leadership training. The new program was designed to be a more holistic approach to leadership, providing students with opportunities to explore the leadership skills they have learned in practical ways.

“Focus is simple and practical in that there are clear levels that you go through,” Lutz said. “There is an application component, from being in a Christian ministry or an MIS team, to exploring leadership through Getting Started or High School Leadership Conference.”

The program’s components ­are View and Develop. The View component is comprised of six different workshops that introduce students to campus leadership. The sessions include training on issues like delegation, leading meetings, having hard conversations and understanding diversity in leadership.

Carmille Akande, dean of Multicultural and Special Programs, leads the Diversity in Leadership sessions, which prepare students for a society that is becoming more and more global.

“I hope students will gain an awareness of diversity related issues through these sessions,” Akande said. “We want them to appreciate the importance of diversity, not only as a leader here at Cedarville, but also when they graduate and go into the work force.”

Some of the other faculty and staff leading sessions include Tom Hutchison, Jeff Reep, Milton Becknell, Carl Ruby, Drew Flamm and Brian Burns.

The Develop component was designed for students who have completed the View program and are looking to expand their leadership skills in specific ways.

“We want it to be a resource,” Lutz said. “Sometimes students find themselves in a position that is a lot bigger than they anticipated. They have no idea how to delegate to others, or lead meetings, and they don’t know where to go with that fear and frustration.

“If they know Focus is here,” he continued, “and they’ve used it before to get their feet wet, then hopefully when they find themselves in those bigger positions of leadership, they will be able to use it again.”

While the View component of Focus Leadership is now a required element for becoming a campus leader, Lutz was clear that the sessions were designed to be more than “just another class.”

“I’ve worked with our presenters and told them I don’t want them lecturing for 45 minutes,” Lutz said. “What I really want is about a 20-minute lecture, then Q&A and breakout sessions that let people discuss and work through what we’re talking about.”

Students who have already been through the sessions have responded positively about their experience.

“The sessions were actually really helpful and interesting,” said Rachel Bowers, a senior RA in Maddox. “I would recommend them for anyone, even if they aren’t required to go.”

The program is still being developed and modified. As Lutz and others get feedback from students, sessions are altered or removed in order to reduce redundancies in the program and improve the experience for everyone involved.

“We’re continuing to try and improve,” Lutz said. “But any time you change something on a college campus, particularly on a program level, it takes two or three years before it’s really understood and we know what’s working and what’s not. It’s somewhat of a daunting task.”

Lutz spent a lot of time looking at what other universities were doing in terms of leadership training to provide the best experience for Cedarville students.

“It’s a continual learning process,” he said. “I would also say that you try something and say ‘we need to tweak this,’ or ‘we need to change this.’ We’ve already changed one of the core sessions just because we don’t want there to be any redundancies. I don’t want a student to come into an hour session or workshop and it feel as if it was a waste of time or there wasn’t something new that they learned from it.”

Lutz has a degree in Higher Education and Student Development from Ohio State University and has a passion for helping students at each level of their college experience.

“We want to make sure that from the time that students come on campus as freshmen, to the time they leave as seniors, that they have been given opportunities and tools that have helped them develop as a leader on our campus, and we hope that that transfers to when they leave as well.”